Complete Streets: From Concept to Reality!

Transcription

1 Complete Streets: From Concept to Reality! - Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority August 2014 Many modes, one corridor.

2 Five core topics: A. Who s here? B. Perspective & the Triple Bottom Line C. Sticky designs for health D. Getting started E. Making the case for Complete Streets. Complete or not?

3 A. That s Me!

4 B. Youthful recollections

5 Changes in Walking & Cycling to School, 1969 to 2001 Ham et.al., Jour. of Physical Activity & Health, 2008, 5, % of students age Car Bus W/B W/B = Walk/Bike

6 Trends in Childhood Obesity & Overweight CDC, National Center for Health Statistics. National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys.

7 The real risk Nov-2009 Lenore Skenazy

8 Complete Streets: Tucson Bicyclists Pedestrians

9 Transit Complete Streets: Freight & Motor Vehicles Glens Falls, NY

10 An essential element of healthy communities... Prosperity Healthy Economy Planet Healthy People Healthy Environment People

11 The bad news in just three numbers: 30 minutes of daily physical activity (60 for kids) recommended by guidelines. < 20 % of Americans actually meet these recommendations (thru LTPA). 365,000 Estimated annual deaths in America due to physical inactivity & poor nutrition. (2 nd only to tobacco.)

12 Exercise Participation Effect of Short Bouts, Home Treadmills (Jakicic et.al., J. Amer. Med. Assoc., 282, 16) 240 Exercise (min/week) LB SB SBT months

13 Fine for a few, but clearly not enough we must build communities where people are intrinsically more active.

14 C. Can we? If we build it will they come?

15 YES! Four elements: 1. Varied destinations within walk, bike, & transit distance. 2. Network: sidewalks, trails, bike lanes, transit. 3. Functional & inviting designs for pedestrians, bicyclists, & transit users. 4. Safe & accessible for all ages, incomes, abilities

16 1. Land use. Live, work, shop, play, learn, pray. Compact neighborhoods & shared open space. E.g. schools, shopping, transit. Housing above, retail below.

17 2. Network encourages active travel with: Wash DC NYC Presence of sidewalks, pathways, bike lanes, sharrows. Shorter blocks, connected grid. Reliable, affordable, accessible transit.

18 Portland OR 3. Site design Research & practice suggest: Buildings near the sidewalk, not set back; parking on street or behind. Trees, benches, lighting, awnings, human scale. Details: bike parking, open space, plants, art, materials.

19 Possible incentives: Decrease, share parking (include bike racks). Build-to, not set-back requirements. 2 nd story residential. Expedite permits. Appleton WI Neenah WI Elected, appointed officials, staff, & developers must be supported if expected to act courageously!

20 4. Safety & access. Engineering can markedly All users improve safety. Increasing pedestrian and bike trips decreases overall accident & fatality rates. Roundabouts Curb extensions (Jacobsen P, Injury Prevention, 2003; 9: )

21 Four Elements of Healthy Community Design: Pedestrian bike, & transit network Mixed land use Safety & access for all. Site design

22 D. Typical phases of CS implementation. i. Pass a resolution or executive order. (Whereas... be it resolved...) ii. Adopt a DPW/engineering policy & detailed design guidelines. iii. Execute first steps, demo projects. iv. Routine: All partners (electeds, staff, consultants,) consider peds, bicycles, transit, & freight in absolutely every project (including routine maintenance).

23 i. Policy Establishes intent, & specific steps forward. Best on a regional scale! ^ Rosemead Blvd. Temple City < Not yet complete

24 E.g. Metro CS Policy includes... Corridor planning support Transit planning & operations Project funding in complete streets communities

25 ii. Design Guidance: Don t reinvent the wheel! E.g. National Assoc. of City Transportation Officials. New York

26 E.g. NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide Ocean Park Blvd. Santa Monica

27 Guidelines have to say it s okay. Create new preferred roadway cross-sections & profiles. (E.g. allow travel lanes on low speed neighborhood streets.)

28 iii. Get started Convene work group; interdisciplinary. 2. Lead walk audits. 3. Take a CS inventory. 4. Move or add lines during painting. 5. Use paint: high visibility crosswalks; sharrows, bike lanes 6. Paint safer parking. 7. Add curb extensions. 8. Build a parklet. 9. Bike parking stall. 10. Install a roundabout. 11. Add median islands. 12. Do a road diet! Minneapolis

29 1. CS work group: Enviro advocates Fire Elected Planning Trails Rec. Bike/Ped Advocate Parks Neighborhoods Employers Hospital Insurer DPW Transit Freight Health ADA Vision ACS Found. Chamber AHA Econ. Devlpmt Developer PTOs Churches Service Orgs. Banks Main St. NAR NAHB

30 2. Lead walk audits on candidate Complete Streets in the community. 3. Create an inventory of street completeness.

31 Inventory to include (y/n?) existence of sidewalk, shoulder, bike lane, vehicle lane widths... Sidewalk Guide line Shared Use Bike Lane

32 4. Paint missing lines.

33 4. Or move them.

34 5. Use paint, signs: E.g. some high visibility crosswalks. Ladder style Boston

35 Paint sharrows or a bicycle lane (plus signs where appropriate). Sharrow (shared use arrow)

36 Shared bike & transit lanes Portland, OR Minneapolis

37 Washington DC ^ Advanced bike box. < Protected, two-way lane.

38 6. Diagonal parking increases on-street capacity, but... Akron, OH But reverse angle: Less severe & costly collisions. Pedestrians off the roadway. Safer for bikes.

39 7. Add curb extensions; paint, curbing, planters,... Missoula Shorten crossings, improve sight lines, slow turning cars. Tucson

40 Baltimore Queens NY Saskatchewan

41 8. Build a parklet (or a few of them). Park City Montpelier New York

42 9. Bicycle parking; stalls can be in curb extensions! Boulder, CO Columbia, MO Salt Lake City library

43 10. Roundabouts, mini-circles; often to replace 4-way stop. Longmont, CO Seattle Madison, WI Glens Falls, NY

44 11. Install medians... Boston San Diego Honolulu Include ped crossings where appropriate; ideally offset.

45 Innovative medians Salt Lake City Washington DC

46 12. Lane re-alignments Often called road diets, 5 or 4 lanes down to 3. Urbana, IL; before & after. Reduce collisions & severity. Improves conditions for peds & cyclists. During routine paving?

47 iv. Institutionalize by changing routine practices; even performance measures. No longer maximize Level of Service (LOS). Minimize Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT).

48 US Vehicle Miles Traveled (USDOT)

49 On new development, redevelopment... Multi-modal Transportation Analysis instead of Traffic Impact Analysis (MMTA vs TIA). Maximize active trip generation. Bus pull-out, transit shelter. Bike lane, sharrows, parking. Sidewalk link, trees, benches. Oak Park, IL

50 E.g. Health Economic Assessment Tools; H.E.A.T. for Bicycling and Walking (WHO) Estimate/meas. # ped/bike trips H.E.A.T. Statistical $ Avg. trip length Other defaults adjustable: average days walked % of round trips years to full impact... value of lifeyears saved. On-line tool:

51 Invite engineers & planners to design... Expand the hierarchy. Not just local, collector, arterial... Boulevard, parkway, lanes, alleys. Re-purpose asphalt e.g. stage & beer garden! Salt Lake City

52 Institutionalize Complete Streets! E.g. Nashville, TN (MPO) Transportation Improvement Program scoring (60%) considers impacts to pedestrian, bicycle, transit, goods & services; not just cars! Higher funding priority for those with multi-modal benefits. LOS-only projects don t get funded!

53 In the end it s not a question of technical knowledge. Ocean Park Blvd. It s not just a question of funding.

54 After all... We spend vast sums annually on transportation projects. Many of the first steps have either very low cost; or negligible marginal (incremental) cost over business as usual; check % increase. FIRST: Look at current paving, painting, & maintenance budgets.

55 D. It s a question of community & political will. So, how to generate support among hesitant community leaders?

56 Three words: Economics Economics Grandchildren...

57 Smart Growth & Economic Success Dec Benefits to developers, realtors, investors, local governments. Less infrastructure in compact development. Walkability premium on real estate sales. Flexibility & choice.

58 Smart Growth & Economic Success Nov Beneficial to... Creative economy, productivity, innovation. Competitive for hiring & retaining employees. Strong retail sales, offers customers transport choices.

59 Study of street redesigns in NYC: Pre- and post-project retail revenue. E.g. pedestrian plazas, bike paths, redesigned intersections, BRT... Improved areas exceeded borough & control area averages.

60 On Common Ground Nat l Assoc. of Realtors; Summer 2010; The Next Generation of Home Buyers: Taste for in-town living. Appetite for public transportation. Strong green streak. Plus, Americans are driving less overall!

61 Walkability. Why we care & why you should too! Builder Magazine, Mar Consumer desire Flexibility in design Lower development costs...

62 The challenge: Build corridors that define more livable, appealing communities. New Towne Mall: Houstonl Or more simply: Which contributes more to economy in the long run? Where do employers want to locate to lower healthcare costs & increase employee retention?

63 It s a question of will! Olshansky et.al., A Potential Decline in Life Expectancy... New Eng. J. of Med., March 17, 2005

64 Your thoughts... Overall reactions policy on target? Two focal points Corridor planning, CSoriented project funding. What else can/should Metro explicitly include? How do we change transportation performance measures? Land use? If you re implementing Complete Streets, what s working? Private sector supportive, involved? Doing CS as part of routine practice? The magic wand...?